The Drover’s Wife

by

Henry Lawson

The Drover’s Wife Symbols

The Snake

The snake that slips under the floorboards of the bushwoman’s house at the beginning of the story represents the threat that natural forces pose to the (white) settlers in the Australian bush. The…

read analysis of The Snake

The Hollow Woodpile

Before the action of the story begins, readers learn that the bushwoman has paid an Aboriginal man to build her a woodpile, and he does it so quickly that she pays him “an extra fig…

read analysis of The Hollow Woodpile

The Young Ladies’ Journal

The bushwoman enjoys reading the Young Ladies’ Journal, which contains fashion illustrations that she likes to look at, and, the reader must assume, depicts life in Australian cities and towns far from where the…

read analysis of The Young Ladies’ Journal